Author

Published

Share it

Dive Brief:

The staff of the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) has recommended against Great Plains Energy’s proposed $12.2 billion acquisition of Westar Energy, according to media reports. If the KCC commissioners approve staff’s recommendation, it could kill the proposed acquisition.

In a filing, staff found the proposed acquisition is not “the public interest when evaluated in the light of the commission's merger standards," and creates "an unacceptably high financial risk for both current and future customers and shareholders."

Great Plains spokesman Chuck Caisley told media outlets KCC staff’s recommendation was highly unusual, especially when it did not offer a solution or a path forward. He said the utility has no current plans to renegotiate the price or the capital structure of the proposed deal.

Dive Insight:

The acquisition of Westar Energy by Great Plains Energy would give Missouri based Great Plains, corporate parent of Kansas City Power & Light, more than 1.5 million customers in Kansas and Missouri and over 13 GW of total generation.

But the deal has faced scrutiny from a long list of intervenors, including industrial consumers, smaller regional utilities and unions, many of whom object to the acquisition.